Chapter 7: Product Management
Learning Objectives
- Students will be able to view a product from a holistic view: understanding the benefit as well as the different attributes of a product and how those attributes contribute to the marketing strategy.
- Students will be able to analyze a market and determine the current stage of the product life cycle (PLC) and the resulting implications on the marketing strategy.
- Students will be able to define and demonstrate the components of a branding strategy.
- Students will be able to describe the new product development process.
Introduction
This chapter begins our discussion of the functional areas of marketing which are better known as the Marketing Mix or the 4Ps. Why do we begin our discussion with product rather than with promotion, distribution, or pricing? The answer is quite obvious. None of those other functions serve any useful purpose without a company product that provides value to the buyer. Without a product, there is nothing to promote, nothing to distribute, nothing to price. This does not suggest that product is more important than the other marketing mix elements. Rather, it is the impetus for the other marketing functions. Logically, we should start at the beginning, and the beginning of a market place is a set of correct decisions about the product offerings of the firm.
